Rideable assemblies which clean, scrub and wax floors are known in the art; however, none of these systems provide a cleaning assembly in which a bonnet cleaner is detachably joined to a rideable appliance.
Moreover, none of the known cleaning systems show the cleaner in a position which is forward of the operator; where it can be viewed during the cleaning operation.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,204,280, Campbell describes a rideable machine for cleaning and waxing floors. This machine includes four brushes; one for sweeping, two for cleaning and waxing and a fourth brush for polishing; however, none of these are bonnet type cleaners nor can they be easily attached or detached or viewed by the operator during the cleaning operation.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,178, Legatt et al. describes a rideable floor scrubber in which the novelty resides in the use of elastomeric isolator mounts for damping vibrations; the object of which is to extend the life of the cleaning machine and its batteries. However, Legatt et al. fails to show any easily detachable means for securing the scrubbing brush to the carriage which is being ridden; moreover, the brush is located behind a drive wheel and as a result, it is invisible to the operator during the cleaning process.
Schaeffer, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,402,420, describes a carpet cleaning device in which the cleaning brush is located at the front of the assembly so that it can be viewed by the operator during the cleaning process; however, this is a hand held, manually operated cleaning system.
The difficulty with the Schaeffer system is that its disc-like buffer creates a rotational energy with respect to the horizontally disposed cleaning surface and this impels the device in sidewise directions. As a result, this device requires a sustained effort on the part of the operator in order to move it in a straight-line direction.
Accordingly, there is a need for a bonnet-type cleaning system which can be easily manipulated and impelled forward in a straight line without effort by the operator.
There is also a need for a bonnet cleaner which can be ridden and whose cleaning assembly can be releasably attached and detached with ease.